By Susan Ferrechio – The Washington Times – Friday, January 31, 2025

The “Ziz Cult” has been blamed for a string of brutal slayings and mayhem across the United States, including the fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent in Vermont.

A nationwide manhunt is underway for Michelle Zajko, a transgender, nonbinary person who police believe bought the semiautomatic weapons used by two other transgender people who fatally shot Border Patrol agent David Maland on Jan. 20 during a traffic stop in Coventry, Vermont.

Several of the associates are in custody and charged with violent crimes. Alleged leader Jack “Ziz” LaSota, a vegan who goes by the name Andrea Phelps, is at large after faking his death to escape prosecution.

Ms. Zajko, who is connected to the group in online posts, is also a person of interest in the killings of her parents in 2023 and in connection with the slaying of Vallejo, California, landowner Curtis Lind.

In all, the alleged cult is tied to a string of killings reminiscent of the murders carried out by Charles Manson followers in the 1960s. In this case, Mr. LaSota is not charged in any of the killings.

Some members of the Ziz group are charged with gravely injuring and later killing Lind. They are accused of attacking him with a sword after he tried to evict them from squatting on his property.

Lind, 82, fatally shot one of his assailants in self-defense. He lost an eye in the attack, and on Jan. 17, as he was poised to testify against his accused assailants, he was stabbed to death outside his home. Police arrested Maximilian Bentley Snyder, who has connections to the Zizians, and charged him with Lind’s death.

In court documents obtained by The Associated Press, prosecutors said Lind was “intentionally killed for the purpose of preventing his testimony in a criminal proceeding.”

Although law enforcement made connections between many of the individuals, online social media influencer Andy Ngo, who has tracked antifa and other antisocial groups, pieced together the attacks more broadly. Last month, he helped tie the violence to Mr. LaSota and his associates.

Mr. Ngo, writing for The New York Post, described Mr. LaSota’s group, known as the Zizians, as “highly educated trans vegan ‘rationalists’ who hold fringe, esoteric ideological beliefs about transhumanism and animal rights.”

Mr. LaSota was at the scene of Lind’s first attack and was squatting on Lind’s property, but police let him go even though he had skipped a court appearance on an unrelated charge.

Police and court records show a pattern of violence among members associated with him.

Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt and University of Washington student Teresa “Milo” Consuelo Youngblut, two transgender people, fired at Maland during a traffic stop, according to federal law enforcement.

Bauckholt, a German national in the U.S. on an expired visa, was killed in the shootout with the Border Patrol agents.

An FBI search of their Toyota Prius uncovered guns, ammunition and tactical gear, including a ballistic helmet, night-vision equipment and full-face respirators, according to an affidavit.

Ms. Youngblut faces two federal charges related to assault with a deadly weapon. She is also connected to the death of Lind.

Ms. Youngblut, 21, and Mr. Snyder, 22, who is charged with killing Lind, applied for a marriage license in King County, Washington, on Nov. 5, county records show.

They are now likely facing decades or life in prison on the separate murder charges. Mr. Snyder describes himself in his LinkedIn profile as a “passionate scholar, data scientist, and creator” who attended Oxford University, sang in his high school choir and was a National Merit Scholarship finalist.

Mr. LaSota’s whereabouts are unknown. He was arrested in 2019 while protesting and barricading a workshop by the Berkeley-based Center for Applied Rationality. His mother and associates say he later died in a boating accident and produced an obituary.

The Coast Guard conducted a search, but no body was found. Police later made contact with Mr. LaSota at the scene of Lind’s first attack, but he was not arrested or charged.